Montana and Great Falls Business Briefs

Nominations are open for the Inspire and Aspire awards, which will be given at the fifth annual The Fire Within, an event celebrating area women entrepreneurs.

The Great Falls Development Authority, host of the annual event, is calling on the community to submit their nominees for women doing amazing business. The deadline for submission is Jan. 31.

The Inspire Award honors a successful woman entrepreneur whose business serves to motivate others pursuing their dreams. Aspire honors a women who has recently realized her dream of business ownership.

The event was created in 2011. Opening the nomination period in October also serves as GFDA’s recognition of National Women’s Small Business Month.

The winners will be selected by a committee of area business leaders ranking nominations based on professional achievement, leadership, community involvement, impact and the entrepreneurial flame within.

All women who have started businesses in 2014 will also be recognized during the event.

The Fire Within celebration will be held March 26 from 6-8 p.m. at the University of Great Falls. There is no cost to attend. Sponsorship opportunities for this event are still available.

For more information and to submit nominations, please contact Jason Nitschke at 406-771-9022 or JNitschke@GFdevelopment.org.

IRS offers free tax webinar

The Internal Revenue Service will present a free webinar with tax information for H-2A Visa Agricultural Workers and Employers at 11:30 a.m. Nov. 6.

People may register online at https://events.na.collabserv.com/register.php?id=0e8fa7d443&l=en-US.

The H-2A temporary agricultural program allows for agricultural employers to bring nonimmigrant foreign workers to the U.S. to perform temporary or seasonal agricultural labor. Employers generally participate in the program in anticipation of a shortage of domestic workers.

During the webinar, registered participants will have an opportunity to better understand the federal tax withholding requirements for H-2A Visa workers and learn how employers can avoid liability for backup withholding on wages paid to laborers.

The webinar is approved for one Continuing Education credit through the IRS approved CE providers program; other tax professionals may qualify depending on the requirements of their state organizations.

Before registering, participants should make sure their spam filters are set to accept email from the IRS webinar provider — confirmation and reminder emails will appear with the name “SL Northwest” and will be from the email address noreply@infiniteconferencing.com.

Interested parties who have problems registering should email the IRS at SL.Northwest@irs.gov.